


The Perfect Shoe Can Change Your Life

by MeganWrites



Series: Alternate Universe [6]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-07
Updated: 2015-06-07
Packaged: 2018-04-03 08:26:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4093978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeganWrites/pseuds/MeganWrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A boot hits Ian and he isn't sure who it belongs to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Perfect Shoe Can Change Your Life

**Author's Note:**

> This is really lame and I'm so sorry.

_THUNK._

"Ow, Jesus, what the fuck?!" Ian shouts and grabs his arm, looking around wildly to see what might have hit him.

A woman just to the left of him gasps and covers her child's ears, watching him, wide-eyed with shock and dismay as she ushers the kid away. Ian scowls and rubs at his sore arm, he really doesn't need the judgement from some uppity lady (not just because his arms hurts like a bitch either, mainly because he just fucking hates dealing with people like her).

Lip snickers from beside him, lit cigarette perched between his lips sparing a quick amused glance at the woman rushing away, then tilting his head to admire Ian's arm. "Something hit you?"

“You didn’t see it?” Ian asks wincing when Lip roughly pokes at his upper arm. Lips shakes his head and smirks when Ian pulls away after a particularly hard poke.

“Found it!” Carl yells and rushes over to Ian holding up a boot. It’s clunky and black with broken laces. The boot looks very worn down and abused like the person who owns them has never bothered to take care of them. Ian grabs it out of Carl’s hands and examines the boot, frowning as he looks around again.

“Where the fuck did it come from?”

“Maybe someone threw it at you,” Fiona asks, holding Liam in her arms and looking around as well, “you piss anyone off recently?”

Ian shakes his head, staring down at the boot in his hands.

“Why would you throw your shoe if you were pissed at someone?” Lip says, taking a drag of his cigarette, “Then you would have nothing to run away wearing - just a fucking waste of a shoe.”

Fiona shrugs, “Emotionally charged reaction? You get mad enough it doesn’t fucking matter what you throw, just as long as it hits them.”

Ian listens silently, still trying to put together how the mystery boot showed up, and looking around the fairgrounds. Most of what Ian sees ends up being children ushered away by their parents and dirty looks being thrown back at them. Apparently none of the parents around are appreciating the Gallagher’s at a fair very much.

“Maybe it fell off,” Debbie says, interrupting Lip and Fiona’s disagreement and pointing at a large Rollercoaster just behind them.

“Or maybe someone threw it from there,” Carl adds and grins when Debbie shoves him.

“Nobody would throw their shoe off a rollercoaster,” Debbie snaps and rolls her eyes, “or at Ian. You’re all so negative.”

Ian smiles at Debbie and puts and hand on her shoulder, “I think you’re probably right, Debs.” He smiles down at the boot and looks up at the rollercoaster, “I should probably return it, huh?”

“Just take it to the lost and found,” Fiona insists, “That’s the first place I would go if I lost something.”

Ian’s never trusted the lost and found, always figured that the people who ran it just took stuff they liked and tossed everything else. Though he figures in this situation, Fiona might be right. He wouldn’t know where else to go with the boot, unless he wants to run around the fairgrounds and try to find someone walking around with only one boot.

“Yeah, I guess,” Ian says.

“Or,” Lip says, a mischievous flash in his eyes that Ian knows means Lip’s about to mock him, “You can try to get the rollercoaster before the ride ends and see if you can find your Cinderella there.”

Ian narrows his eyes and gives Lip an unimpressed frown, “Clever, asshole.”

“What? I’m just saying, this could be fate. I mean,” Lip grabs the boot from Ian’s hands and spins it around in his own hands, “There’s a mysterious boot left behind and someone out there is just waiting for some dashing young man to sweep him of his feet.”

“Dick,” Ian mutters, snatching the boot back.

“What if it is though?” Debbie asks, smiling brightly.

“Lip was just making fun of me, Debs,” Ian says, putting a hand on her shoulder with a sympathetic smile. Debbie’s always been this way, Lip calls it naivety but Ian’s always seen it differently, even envied it, because Debbie just seems hopeful to him.

Debbie scowls, “I know that, I’m not stupid, it’s just maybe it could happen. You return his boot and then it’s a real life fairytale.” She smiles sweetly and sighs, “I think you should try to find him.”

“Ian, just take it to the lost and found,” Fiona interjects tiredly, hoisting Liam into her arms when he grabs onto her leg, “We’ve only got a few hours left and I don’t think I’m getting free coupons again anytime soon, so let’s make the most of it, alright?” She directs the last part to all of them, getting grumbled agreement from Debbie and an excited whoop from Carl.

Lip smirks and tosses the butt of his cigarette on the ground, he points at Ian and says, “Meet us at that fucked up hammer ride?”

It’s a ride that is shaped kind of like a giant hammer, people are seated and strapped in along the heavy bottom and being swung around in a large circle. Carl’s been pointing it out all day and Fiona finally decided it was time to give it a try.

“Yeah, save me a place in line,” Ian says and starts to walk away, boot clutched in his grip as he maneuvers through the crowds.

He glances to the rollercoaster for a second and debates going there to try and find the guy. He knows it’s stupid and Ian’s not even a romantic (far from, actually) but for a second he thinks; _maybe._ It’s a nice fantasy, maybe not the fairytale that Debbie seems to think it is, but still nice. Unfortunately, Ian’s become a cynic and all he can imagine beyond returning the boot is the asshole cussing him out.

That’s just how people tend to react.

Ian gives up on the small fantasy quickly and walks up to a nearby map. He doubts there will be a marked place for a ‘Lost and Found’ but he assumes the information desk might have some details. There’s a group of three standing in front of the map and blocking Ian’s view. There’s one woman and two men, all around the same height and one of the men and the woman both have dark brown hair, almost black looking, that contrasts starkly with their pale skin.

“It’s probably on the fuckin’ ground somewhere,” the man with lighter hair says gruffly, “Just wasting fuckin’ time with this shit, Mandy.”

“Fuck off,” the woman snaps, flipping the man off and scowling, “We’re in a normal fuckin’ neighbourhood and this is what normal fuckin’ people do: they return shit.”

“Would you both shut the fuck up?” The dark haired man cut through the other two bickering, “Bitchin’ at each other is actually doing fuck all.”

The woman crosses her arms, scowl still deeply etched into her face, “Fuck you, Mickey. This is the type of shit we get for trying to be helpful.”

The lighter haired man snorts and nods, seeming just as affronted as the woman does.

Ian scratches the back of his neck and tries his best not to eavesdrop but it’s difficult when the group in front of him is cursing each other so loudly. He feels a bit awkward and looks around for another nearby map that he can use instead, when he sees none he settles into waiting for the group to finish. He lets the arguing become white noises as he waits, watching some people walk by and glancing to the ground.

Ian freezes suddenly, “Holy shit!”

The guy in front of him, the one with the dark hair, is missing a shoe. More specifically, the man is only wearing one clunky black boot and is missing the other.

“The fuck are you looking at?”

Ian looks up and realizes that he must have spoken louder than he meant to because the three people are now turned and staring at him. Ian tries to say something but is stunned into silence by three sets of sharp blue, cutting stares.

The dark haired man scowls, “Is that my fuckin’ boot?”

Ian is struck by how attractive the man is. He’s not a supermodel or even someone that would make Ian pause on the streets, but there’s something about him. He looks a bit gruff, he has tattoos on his knuckles, a wrinkled t-shirt with the arms cut off and a few tears in his jeans that seem to be covered in a layer of dirt and dust, but Ian finds he’s kind of exactly the type of guy he imagined early. He suits the boot and somehow the whole rough and tumble look works on him because he is really fucking hot. He tries his best to ignore the nagging voice in the back of his head (that suddenly sounds a lot like Lip and Debbie) telling him that this really _could_ be a fairytale and tells himself that it just won’t happen with this guy.

“Yeah,” Ian chokes out, holding up the shoe, “I just noticed that actually.”

“I told you that’s how normal people do shit,” The woman mumbles, sticking her tongue out at the lighter haired man.

“How the fuck did you get my boot?” The dark haired man asks, ignoring the other two and focusing on Ian.

Ian feels awkward and tongue tied, he motions out towards the open area by the rollercoaster he had been in and stumbles over his words, “I was just standing and it, uh, hit me.”

“Fell off while he was on the rollercoaster,” The woman says (Ian figures that makes Debbie the new genius of the family) and steps forward, extending her right hand, “I’m Mandy and these are my stupid brothers, Iggy and Mickey.” She gestures to the light haired man and the then the dark haired man as she says their corresponding names. “Thank you for bring this back and proving Iggy wrong about the people of the world having fuckin’ morals."

Ian laughs awkwardly and smiles shyly, “Uhm, you’re welcome, I guess.”

Ian’s bad at picking up on hints but he wonders if the way Mandy has sidled up to him means she’s hitting on him.

“It’s so,” Mandy pauses and hums, sighing deeply, “Romantic, you know? Like a knight in shining armor, coming over to return the missing boot.”

Ian’s eyes widen and he quickly looks back at Mickey who seems to have a light pink flush on his cheeks and neck.

“Mandy,” Mickey growls with a warning tone.

“I’m serious,” Mandy continues, undeterred by her brothers discomfort, “He tracked you down and returned your shoe, this is the stuff great romances are built from.”

Ian’s sure he’s blushing at this point too because it’s become very clearly that Mandy isn’t hitting on him but instead trying to set him up with Mickey. Ian’s trying very hard to pretend he hasn’t been thinking about asking him on a date or fucking just kissing him since Mickey turned around but it’s difficult when Mandy keeps fucking talking about it.

“Hey Mands,” Iggy interrupts, “Don’t we got that thing we gotta go do?” He quirks an eyebrow and winks, making the entire ploy even more painfully obvious than it would have been before.

“Oh yeah! We do have that thing,” Mandy says. She grins and slides in between Ian and Mickey, not even trying to whisper when she tells Mickey, “He’s really fucking cute, don’t fuck up.” Then Iggy and Mandy are walking away, sparing quick glances back as they giggle together.

Mickey scratches his forehead, “Sorry, she’s, uh, yeah.”

Ian waves a hand and smiles, “It’s fine, my siblings are the same way.”

“Right,” Mickey says before they fall into an awkward silence.

Ian swallows, watching as Mickey sucks in his lower lip and chews on it absently. It’s fucking endearing to watch and kind of adorable. Now that Mickey doesn’t seem quite as startled and angry Ian can see all these softer features in his face. His eyes are warm, his skin looks effortlessly smooth, and his lips are supple and so damn inviting.

“My siblings said the exact same thing, actually,” Ian finally says, breaking the silence in a vain attempt the halt his thoughts. “The whole romance and storybook fairytale thing, except none of them called me cute, so.”

Mickey barks out a laugh, saying, “Siblings, man, fuckin’ annoying.”

Ian laughs along and nods, “Yeah, pretty much.”

“So, uh, can I actually have my boot back?” Mickey asks, point at the boot still in Ian’s clutch.

“Oh, fuck, yeah,” Ian passes him the boot and hopes to God that he isn’t blushing again. This whole thing is just turning it a fucking embarrassment.

Mickey pulls the boot on and grumbles a bit about the broken laces before he looks back at Ian, “Thanks for returning it.”

“Yeah, of course,” Ian says smiling and trying to think of way he can just fucking continue this conversation. He doesn’t want Mickey to leave and he wants to suddenly break out some suave line that makes Mickey weak at the knees but he doesn’t actually have one. He realizes quite sadly that he probably isn’t very good at flirting.

Mickey looks like he’s contemplating walking away but just hasn’t convinced his feet to move yet. He clicks his tongue and says, “What was your name?”

Oh God, Ian hadn’t actually introduced himself.

“Shit, it’s Ian, sorry.”

Mickey laughs and shakes his head, “Ian, alright. Don’t apologize when you didn’t do anything wrong, Ian.”

“Well that’s not fair,” Ian says, finding Mickey’s teasing smile easy to respond to, “Now I just feel like apologizing for apologizing. That sentence is fucking trap.”

Mickey swipes his tongue over his lower lip, eyes traveling the length of Ian’s body, “God, you’re kind of lame, huh?”

Ian shrugs, “Maybe.”

Mickey laughs again and Ian fucking preens, it’s like a prize every time he hears it and sees Mickey’s smile lighting up his face. Fuck, it’s been maybe ten minutes but Ian’s pretty sure he’s completely smitten with Mickey.

“So,” Mickey says, “I’m probably gonna go on the rollercoaster again.”

Ian feels a twinge of sadness knowing that his time with Mickey is coming to a fast close. “Cool,” Ian answers, smiling tightly, “I, uh, I’ll be down here, just waiting around to catch your boot again.”

Her cringes and curses at himself; that was such a fucking stupid line. Why would he say that? Who the fuck would find that cute?

Mickey frowns and shakes his head, “Or you could come on it with me.”

Ian smiles slowly, “Oh.”

“Is that a yes?”

Ian nods enthusiastically, “Yeah, definitely.”

It isn’t until after the rollercoaster and three more rides that Mickey drags Ian away from the crowds, drawing him in closely and kissing Ian deeply. It steamrolls from there and soon they’re fucking behind the concession. The threat of being caught is tantalizing and Mickey’s tight and hot; the sex is just so fucking good, Mickey is so fucking good. Ian’s out of breath and tingling everywhere and he can’t believe his day has actually become this.

It probably isn’t very romantic or much of a fairytale, but Ian finds he likes this better anyways.

**Author's Note:**

> [Tumblr :)](http://meganwwrites.tumblr.com)


End file.
